In the century after Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type, books and
other printed materials began to flourish, and in doing so, many artisans
began to decorate such items with marvelous woodcuts. Three centuries after
their publication, Lessing J. Rosenwald (the retired chairman of Sears,
Roebuck, and Company) acquired many of these masterworks at a sale sponsored
by their then owner, C.W. Dyson Perrins. Eventually, Rosenwald willed these
works to the Library of Congress, and they have just recently created this
online exhibit to complement a current exhibit in Washington, DC. In the
introduction to the exhibit, visitors can read about Rosenwald and Perrins,
and also learn a bit about how a woodcut is created. The exhibit itself is
divided into one section that deals with works from the 15th century, and
another that deals with the 16th century. Some of the highlights featured
here include images from a 1506 commentary on the Passion of Christ as
executed by the Swiss artist, Urs Graf. Another set of gems are the lovely
woodcuts from Jacob Wolff's 1501 edition of Aesop's life and fables. [KMG]